A question for some of the more seasoned players on here... How has your strategy changed from when you started the game to now? What was your strategy when you started? What is it now? With what you know now, what would you do differently in the early days of playing AM?

Change in Strategy From Beginning to Now

As a piece of fresh meat where this game is concerned I'd like to read some of these stories.

Personally already I have changed strategy 4 times. Went from short hops to medium/long then back to small as I didn't want to take any loans, then became a billionaire for a few minutes when I did take the loans, went from 1 to 3 stars then back to 1 just over a week later and now I'm trying a little bit of everything! I average 20 million a day, which is poor. Oh, it should be said I only play this on the mobile. PC is for Flight Simming.

So it would be good to see how others set out to make their millions/billions.

While I certainly haven't been playing this game for a long period of time, I can say a few things I would do differently.

Firstly, I would start a spreadsheet early, and use it to track how profitable each route and plane is. I would also have started trying to figure out the "formula" of the game much earlier. Being able to work out which plane is the best for your route choice etc makes life much better and your airline will benefit.

Secondly, think of a strategy and stick to it. There are so many different ways to make money in the game, but the quickest way to lose it is by having to sell planes and routes due to a strategy change. Build your research to help this strategy. Obviously once you get a bit bigger, it gives you more flexibility to change strategies, but don't rush into it.

Everyone who you talk to in this game will give you different advice. And everyone has a different strategy. But ultimately you need to decide what you want to do in the game, and come up with a strategy to achieve that.

I have just recently changed my strategy to flying mostly 777-200s and 777-300s on both my short and long-haul routes. I have found both planes to be very economical. Most of my routes are over 80% profit margin.

Great post for open discussions!I started as a rookie taking all free planes and cheap planes, short routes, then MH. As I have been learning the game my strategy has changed to LH, A380, B748, A350, B788 only, I sold all my SH and most MH planes (Still keep a few to fill my old SH routes).

I also reconfigured every route, on a very detailed spreadsheet I set my game plan before starting:

1- Buy routes that are 9893 kms or less (24 hr RT flights)2- Optimize research to focus on LH, Econ & Cargo, so Entertainment and Punctuality are prioritized over Attractiveness of Prices & Safety. Delivery Speed & Offer Attractiveness as long as it does not decrease pax demand.3- Hire Staff that meets above criteria (That section is closed now but it still giving me benefits)4- Optimize prices (After research above)5- Start spreadsheet with maximum route capacity and see how I can use my existing plane inventory to fill existing demand6- Ground all the planes from a hub, then sell all SH & MH planes7- Fill routes leaving positive pax demand. Each plane should only cover one route for efficient route demand. Most routes take 2-3 planes8- From available pax demand, pick from any of A380, B748, A350, B788 planes to complete the route demand, not to exceed -100 pax equivalent (Figure out the conversion from Biz/First to Cargo & Econ to estimate plane capacity)9- Once all demand is filled for routes, get floater planes to pick up leftover pax on that one day of the week, mixing routes.10- Take out loans only to complete your group plane purchase where the discount you get for group purchases is greater than the interest rate charged, then pay it back in the next week.11- I became BOB the mechanic's best friend (for free, of course)

I have moved from Rank 1,500 to 150 in the last 2 months. So something is working right.

I still have bugs, some days I get $0 SP or negative on some days. I haven't figured out what the problem is. This makes me lose 50 spots and then recover after the system works again.

Other players have optimized for SH, others for Biz/First and others for Cargo, as long as you are consistent with your research , staff and route configuration, all will work. As I have watched the top 10 players and they all have different strategies and are still in top 10.

The next change in my strategy will be deciding what I want to do with my SH/MH fleet. Currently, I am running A300-600R on my SH/MH lines. The plane has been highly profitable. I am worried that over time as the fleet grows that maintenance costs will be an issue. Right now the fleet is small enough that Bob can handle it. I am also looking at realism and the fact that you don't see too many passenger A300-600s anymore.

The question becomes...Do I keep the A300-600 and keep growing with it? Do I replace it with something smaller and newer with more frequency like the B737-900? Do I replace them with newer larger planes with less frequency like the B777-200?

Donny_Wingo a écrit:The next change in my strategy will be deciding what I want to do with my SH/MH fleet. Currently, I am running A300-600R on my SH/MH lines. The plane has been highly profitable. I am worried that over time as the fleet grows that maintenance costs will be an issue. Right now the fleet is small enough that Bob can handle it. I am also looking at realism and the fact that you don't see too many passenger A300-600s anymore.

The question becomes...Do I keep the A300-600 and keep growing with it? Do I replace it with something smaller and newer with more frequency like the B737-900? Do I replace them with newer larger planes with less frequency like the B777-200?

I've been playing for a while now and have still to figure this one out completely. Currently on my SH/MH I find the 737-900ER the best cost/profit/effort ratio, however! That said when the demand is high and you've a lot of routes/schedules to setup to fill demand it can get labour intensive.

eg currently I have some 168hr loops setup for a group of similar demand routes. in my case I could be running 70 planes for such a loop (10 loops with 7 planes each = 70 planes) thats a lot of schedules to set!!

I'm thinking of setting any future MH loops with larger planes (widebodies eg A330) to cut down on number of planes I have schedule (in this example 5 loops of A330 to fill same demand as my 70 737's is 35 A330's, or if I used 747-400's i could get that number down to 21 (slight drop in capacity that I could live with).

OR if I was running 8 loops of 737's I could just use 2 x A380 (14 planes vs 56!!)

747-400/A380 would give similar cost/profit and cost/seat ratios (only a little less) then the 737-900's but not very "realistic" in most markets (although there are some!!)

it would be purely just to make life easier for myself (scheduling wise).

A330 might be a little more "realistic" but the cost/profit and cost/seat ratios would be noticeably less then the 737-900's so less bang for my buck in comparison.

It's a tough decision! Make life a little easier at the cost of realism or play more real life like and wear your mouse out/trackpad out setting up schedules!